Wood waste disposal apparatus



Jam L 5% G. A. BOUGHMAN woon WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 14, 1946 GUY A. BOUGHMAN ATTORNEY Jam. 11,, W G. A. BOUGHMAN 2,496,146

wooo WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS Filed Nov. 14, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 GUY A. BOUGHMAN INVENTOR m 1 ATTORNEY 2A&M

11mm. 31L, 19@ G. A. BOUGHMAN woon WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Nov. 14, 1946 GUY A. BOUGHMAM INVENTOH ATTORNEY Jan, 3% W@ G. A. BOUGHMAN wm WOOD WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS Filed NOV. 14, 1946 5 Shets-Sheet 4 GUY A- BOUGHMIAN INVENTOR ATTORNEY G. A. BOUGHMAN 1;,1; Qfi

WOOD WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS Filed Nov. 14, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 GUY A. BOUGH MAN INVENTOR Patented Jan. 31, 1959 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE W001i) WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS of North Carolina Application November 14, 1946, Serial No. 709,811

4 Claims.

This invention relates to means for handling shavings and other waste products from woodworking machines, such as sawdust, chips, or any wooden particles derived from the finishing of wood or the manufacture of wood into furniture wherein there are chips, shavings, sawdust and other wood refuse.

' Heretofore in woodworking establishments, such as furniture factories, the disposition of the wood waste from the woodworking machines has been quite a problem. It has heretofore been taken usually by suction from the woodworking machine and conveyed to a suitable place outside the building where it has been dumped into a large pile, which creates quite a fire hazard and, in fact, such disposition of the waste of the woodworking plant is not favored by insurance companies. Other means of disposin of this waste has been in conveying the shavings by suitable means to a furnace and endeavoring to burn the shavings and wood waste in a furnace. Usually these shavings have been thrown into the furnace by shovel, or otherwise, and are in great packed masses or lumps and would not properly burn, thus creating quite a problem in the disposition of the shavings.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a storage compartment, or bin, into which shavings may be conducted for storage and providing a screw conveyor in the lower end of the storage bin for withdrawing the shavings from the storage bin and providin a plurality of stirring elements disposed above the conveyor to stir the shavings and to prevent their being conveyed in large lumps. From the conveyor the wood waste is received by suction and blowing means which conveys the wood waste from the end of the conveyor disposed on the exterior of the storage bin to the fire box of a furnace where these disintegrated shavings or wood waste are delivered into the furnace in a scattered and finely divided condition, and at a rate at which the shavings can be consumed and thus providing not only trouble-free means of disposing of the shavings but also providing a source of heat for heating the building and for generating steam for driving of electrical generators and the like, thus eliminating the necessity of hiring labor for disposing of the shavings, but in addition deriving from these shavings suflicient power not only to heat the building from whence the waste came but also to generate a large portion of the electrical current used in the building.

It is another object of this invention to provide means for removing shavings and other Wood waste from a storage bin and conveying them to a furnace in a finely divided condition. where they will be burned for the generation of heat.

It is another object of the invention to provide means for feeding wood waste to a furnace comprising a conduit for receiving the waste and hav-- ing a suction blower fan therein whose intake end is connected to the other end of the conduit, said conduit having a vane pivoted at one end in the conduit and having its free end adapted to rest on the waste passing through the conduit, the suction blower fan having a discharge conduit leading to the furnace. The use of the vane confines the air currents against the waste on the bottom of the conduit and thus eliminates the need for a Cyclone or centrifugal separating apparatus in the discharge conduit.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the description proceeds when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the invention with portions broken away;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the left-hand portion of Figure l and omitting the storage bin walls;

Figure 3 is an elevation looking from the lefthand end of Figure 2, and omitting the storage bin;

Figure 4 is an enlarged elevation of the righthand portion of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view taken. along the line 5--5 in Figure 4;

Figure 6 is an elevation, partly in section, and taken along the line 6--6 in Figure 3;

Figure 7 is a top plan view of the structure shown in Figure 4 and showing the walls of the storage bin in section;

Figure 8 is a longitudinal sectional view through the funnel and a portion of the conveying means, taken along the line 8-8 in Figure 2, but omitting portions of the upper portion of the structure shown in Figure 2;

Figure 9 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 9-9 in Figure 1;

Referring more specifically to the drawings, the numeral It) indicates a suitable storage bin of any desired height into which the shavings, chips, sawdust, and other wood waste may be projected, such as through a pipe H. One of the walls of the storage bin ID has a suitable opening 12 therein, through which a conveyor mechanism is adapted to pass and it also has a suitable hole is through which a stirrer shaft may be passed.

work for the trough I5.

3 The conveyor mechanism comprises a semicircular trough I5 having angle irons i6 and I1 disposed on each side thereof to which the semicircular trough I5 is secured as by spot-welding. Spot-welded to these angle irons I6 and I1 is a plurality of semi-circular support members i8 which have welded between their lower portions suitable angle members to provide a frame- Suitable legs 2| are welded to the angle bars I8 and I1 and rest on the floor of the bin for supporting the trough. Rotatably mounted in the trough I5 is a screw conveyor 23 which has its right-hand end mounted in a suitable bearing block 24 which is secured on a plate 25 secured between the outer ends of angles 96 and I! and closing the right-hand end of the trough in Figures 1 and l. The other end of the screw conveyor 23 is mounted in a bearing block 21 secured on a plate 28, which plate is welded to the proximate edges of angles i6 and I I in Figures 1 and 2. The clearance between the screw conveyor and the inside surface of the trough prevents the wood waste from packing together and adhering to the screw conveyor. The trough itself stops short of the left-hand ends of the angle irons i6 and I! so that the shavings may dump from the open end thereof into a suit able funnel to be presently described so excess shavings can spill over the sides of the funnel and prevent clogging. The screw conveyor 23 has secured thereon a sprocket wheel having a sprocket chain 3i thereon which is mounted on a sprocket wheel 32 on a stirrer shaft 33. Near the outer end of the shaft 33 a bearing block 35 is disposed which is secured to the upper end of the plate 28.

Secured to and arising from angle bars I6 and I! are bars 36 and 3'! which support angles a2 and 43 which support a plate 38. Disposed between the angles 42 and 43 and angles I6 and Il respectively, are plate members 48 and 29 which define a passageway of sufficient clearance to prevent parking of shavings through which the shavings or other wood wastes pass through the opening I2 in bin Ill. Suitable brace bars and 4| are secured to the upper surfaces of plate 38 and to the plate 28.

The rear end of the stirrer shaft 33 is supported in a bearing 41 mounted in the upper end of plate 25, which plate is braced by suitable supports 59 and 5| secured to plate 25, and to the top surfaces of angle bars I6 and IT. The stirrer shaft 33 has a plurality of toothed disks 53 mounted thereon for stirring the shavings in the lower portion of the bin, immediately above the screw conveyor 23 to cause the shavings to be broken up before they are withdrawn from the bin by the screw conveyor 23.

The outer end of the screw conveyor shaft 23 has mounted thereon a beveled gear which meshes with the beveled gear 6| projecting from a reduction gear housing 62 which has a V-pulley 63 thereon, on which v belts 6 are mounted and which V-belts are also mounted on a suitable V- pulley S! mounted on a motor shaft 68 of an electric motor it supported on a suitable angle framework "i I. This imparts rotation to screw conveyor and also to stirrer shaft 33.

Disposed below the open end of the trough I5 and on the outside of the bin Iii is a funnel 15 which empties into a rectangular tube 16 which has a vane ll pivoted as at I8 therein, and the tube "I6 has an opening 80 therein, closed by a suitable cap closure 8| which may be opened if desired to clean the interior of the tube 16. The

4 funnel forms an air inlet opening which pulls shavings into the tube I6.

The vane 11 also acts as a check valve against explosions or blow backs from the furnace. Rising upwardly from the left-hand portion of tube 16 in Figure 8 is a pipe 83 which extends into a suction blower casing 84 which has rising therefrom a discharge pipe 85 which lead to a suitable furnace 81 having a fire box 89 with grates 38 therein. The discharge end of the blower pipe 85 is substantially larger in diameter than the conveyor pipe 85, preferably about twice the diameter of the conveyor pipe 85 so as to cause the wood waste and the air blasts to decrease in velocity immediately prior to entering the fire box 89 of the furnace and also to create turbulence. This allows the shavings and other wood waste to slide or roll onto the burning shavings already within the fire box and without disrupting the shavings to any great extent.

Disposed within the suction blower fan housing 8G is a conventional blower, not shown, which is mounted on a shaft 93. The shaft 93 has disposed thereon on the exterior of the housing 84 a pulley 534 having a belt 95 thereon which is also mounted on a pulley 96 disposed on motor shaft 9? of an electric motor 98.

It is to be noted that the vane ll pivoted as at I8 in the conduit I6 normally occupies the positicn shown in bold lines in Figure 8 due to gravity when there is not an excess of air velocity in the end of the conduit which is disposed next to the intake side of the suction blower fan. However, when there is a reduction in the air velocity in the left-hand end of the conduit of Figure 8, then the vane 11 will tend to fall by gravity to the position shown in the drawings, During normal operation, the free end of the vane l1 will tend to rest on the layer of waste traveling along the bottom of the tube 16, but the suction will keep digging the waste from beneath the free end of the vane I! as the vane localizes the air currents at the free end of the vane.

It is thus seen that I have provided a novel apparatus for the handling of wood waste in working plants whereby the wastes can be stored in a suitable bin and disintegrated and stirred up and removed from the bin and conveyed to the fire box of a furnace in an economical and feasible manner so that the wood waste will be properly consumed by the fire in the fire box and will not smoke and smolder in the fire box as heretofore has been the case. Also, what was heretofore considered a liability in the matter of disposal has been converted into an asset in that the wood waste is handled and disposed of at very low cost, and the waste is converted into heat energy, thus replacing valuable heat energy in the form of coal for the heating of buildings and in the form of electric current which heretofore has been bought from the power company.

In the drawings and specification I have shown a preferred embodiment of the invention, and althrough specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only, and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for conveying wood waste comprising a conduit having an open intake end and having the suction side of a suction blower fan connected to its other end, said fan having one end of a discharge conduit connected to the output side of the fan, the other end of the discharge conduit having a diameter greater than that of the other portions of the discharge conduit, said conduit having a vane pivoted therein atone of its ends on a transverse horizontal pivot and so mounted that its free end is allowed to rest by ravit on the wood Waste on the bottom of the conduit for regulating the amount of vacuum in the conduit.

2. Apparatus for conveying wood Waste comprising a conduit having an open intake end directed upwardly and into which wood waste may fall by gravity, a suction blower fan having an inlet port and an outlet port, the other end of the conduit being connected to the inlet port of the fan, a discharge pipe having an end connected to the outlet port of the fan, the other end of the discharge pipe being of greater diameter than the main portion of the discharge pipe, the conduit having a vane of greater overall height than the height of the conduit and pivoted on a transverse pivot at its upper end near the top of the conduit and having its free end extending towards the fan and adapted to rest on the waste passing along the conduit to confine the induced air currents against the wood waste and whose free end will rise as a result of the induced air currents in the conduit.

3. Apparatus for conveying wood waste from a woodworking plant, such as shavings, chips, and the like, comprising a suction blower fan having an intake conduit, the intake end of which is provided with a funnel into which the wood waste is adapted to be dumped, the suction blower fan having a discharge conduit leading therefrom, the end of the discharge conduit being of larger dimensions than the rest of the discharge conduit to create turbulence and to lessen the air velocity passing out of the end of the discharge conduit, the intake conduit between its intake end and its connection to the suction blower fan having a vane therein pivoted near its upper end on a transverse pivot near the top of the conduit and said vane being of substantially the same width as the inside dimensions of the intake conduit, said vane extending towards the fan and its lower end being adapted to rest by gravity on the wood waste being drawn through the intake conduit to thereby confine the air currents against the top of the wood waste being conducted along the bottom of the intake conduit.

4. Apparatus for conveying wood waste, such as shavings, sawdust, chips and small pieces of wood comprising an intake conduit having one end open for receiving the waste, a suction-blower fan having its intake end connected to the other end of the intake conduit, said fan having one end of a discharge conduit connected to its discharge end and said conduit having its other end enlarged, a vane pivoted at one of its ends on a transverse pivot in close proximity to the top interior Wall of the intake conduit and having its free end extending towards the fan and adapted to rest by gravity on the Waste moving along the bottom of the intake conduit.

GUY A. BOUGHMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

